


Of stressful moments and rare peace

by It_is_a_reference



Category: Naruto
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Christmas Shopping, Christmas Stupidity, Fluff, I Tried, Kung Fu Panda Movies, M/M, Stupidity, Time Skips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-26
Updated: 2019-12-26
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:53:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21978385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/It_is_a_reference/pseuds/It_is_a_reference
Summary: The time leading up to Christmas was a stressful one, with people rushing around to wrap presents, buy presents and receive strange calls from your fiancee's uncle. Sometimes it's nice to just settle down and relax.(Basically just a bunch of short moments leading up to Christmas with Gaara and Lee without ever actually reaching Christmas)
Relationships: Gaara/Rock Lee
Comments: 3
Kudos: 23
Collections: GaaLee / LeeGaa Holiday Exchange





	Of stressful moments and rare peace

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Amphibimixis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amphibimixis/gifts).



> I tried and feel like I failed. Really, this is just Gaara wanting some peace and quiet and Lee being... well... Lee. Hopefully this is to your liking amphibimixis. And yes, I realise this has been posted quite late but hey, it's still the 26th so whatever.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

It was nice to just sit back and relax every once in a while. Just sit back and watch the fire dance over the wood, producing such a comforting warmth that – while nowhere near the sweltering heat of Suna – was enough to chase away the cold. The room was alit with Christmas decorations: tinsel, strings of flashing lights, baubles hanging, stockings over the fireplace, an outrageous amount of glitter caused the Incident. What was the Incident? Gaara didn’t even like to think about it, preferring to banish it to the deepest, darkest part of his mind. A Christmas tree in the corner of the room stood proud, too tall for anything to be put on top (much to Lee’s chagrin, he wanted to put an angel up there). It looked like someone had just thrown on a few tubs of decoration onto its branches and decided to call it a day but honestly neither of the men in the house minded (out loud). The chaotic nature of the decorations mirrored their everyday life and therefore there was no need to change it, according to Lee although that wasn’t exactly a positive thing.

Anyway, it was a rare occurrence for Gaara to be able to curl up next to the fire, mug of hot chocolate in hand and content to just remain in front of the fire with his lazy cat, Shukaku. Of course, this residence wasn’t just Gaara’s but instead it was shared with the personification of energy and natural disasters. Rock Lee. Who, currently, was racing around the house, looking for wrapping paper so that he could finish wrapping the presents he had gotten for everyone. Shukaku hated this attitude, hissing whenever Lee came too close before he gave up and ran off somewhere, nearly causing Lee to trip over him. Gaara was used to this behaviour, though, and ignored his fiancée until Lee fell on his face, falling to the ground with a loud thud that made Gaara wince.

The redhead turned his head, watching as Lee got back up, wrapping paper in hand after finally finding it and made as if to rush back upstairs. Geez, he was just too energetic. Gaara shook his head fondly before speaking up before Lee could disappear.

“Lee. Just calm down. It’s the 15th, you have time to wrap everything up. Come over here and have some hot chocolate or something.”

“But Gaara, it is not good to leave everything to the last second! I should wrap everything up now.”

“Do it tomorrow. It’s too early for you to be so hyper.” Lee looked like he was going to argue so Gaara continued before he could. “You still have another ten days to do this. Don’t worry.”

He patted the space next to him, where Shukaku had vacated in favour of seeking refuge from Lee, and waited until Lee put the wrapping paper back down on the counter and went over to him. There was some Christmas song playing on the radio, mere background noise as Lee sat down next to him.

“I suppose you are right. As Gai-sensei says, there is no point in stressing over a deadline if it is very far away. It is not healthy.”

Gaara barely refrained from rolling his eyes at how Lee referenced his uncle yet again. Instead he just hummed in response and took another sip of his hot chocolate. Delicious.

“Can I have some?” Lee questioned, looking at his drink.

Temari and Kankuro had always insisted that he was too protective of the most trivial things: drinks most of all. Gaara preferred to call it an understandable reaction to having something he was drinking being taken away from him (okay, so maybe going as far to bite Kankuro when he tried to take his coffee was a bit too harsh but he was half asleep so it wasn’t like he knew what he was doing). Now, he cradled the mug to his chest, glaring at Lee as he shielded his precious drink from his fiancée, daring him to come closer.

Lee held his hands up to placate Gaara, a smile stretching his face, “Alright, I will not steal your drink. You look a lot like Shukaku when you do that, by the way.” He remarked as he stood up to pour himself some hot chocolate.

Gaara faked offense, “Are you saying I’m lazy? Rude!”

Lee laughed good-naturedly, “Of course not. You merely lack the spirit of youth.”

Gaara groaned at yet another reference to Gai, “I have enough spirit to stab someone, at least.”

“That is not a productive way to channel your youth.” Lee noted calmly, knowing that Gaara was only half joking.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Gaara waved off.

He was annoyed slightly that they were having a conversation that lasted more than a few words this early in the morning (it was nine but to Gaara it felt like one in the morning). Really, he should have had coffee or something before now. He wasn’t going to make it to noon at this rate. Lee came back, hot chocolate in hand, and allowed Gaara to curl up into his fiancée’s side as they watched the flames continue to roar on with idle talk passing between the two of them.

* * *

Gaara never particularly enjoyed picking out presents, usually struggling to find the perfect item for whoever he was shopping for. In the end, he would normally just pick up something he knew they would appreciate and be done with it; this time, however, he was determined to find the _best_ , most _perfect_ gift for Lee. He knew that Lee would love whatever Gaara gave him but Lee was too nice to dislike something just because it wasn’t extravagant or exactly to his liking. That wasn’t enough for Gaara. He had to get something that Lee would genuinely love, that could be useful to him in some way.

Scouring the aisles, he grew steadily frustrated as nothing stood out to him as being Lee enough. As being the right thing to give his fiancée this year. Everything was either too bland, or too easy to disregard, or too boring, or too disposable and none of those things were _Lee_. None of those things were made for him. There was nothing that stood out, that caught Gaara’s eye. Everything was just so mundane, everyday little things that didn’t mean anything and would be gone by the time next Christmas rolled around. The worst part was that Gaara had walked into this shop with no idea, no vague clue, as to what he would be getting Lee and so he was going about this clueless as to what he would be walking out of here with, if there was anything that caught his eye in the last few aisles.

Of course, like most things in life it was the last thing he checked that held the answer. Well, the second last thing he checked. The second last aisle that he hadn’t looked at was full of small trinkets like globes and frames, tiny figurines and delicate glass ornaments. A snow globe on one of the shelves stood out to him, with the bottom part being a bright red and the figures inside displaying two reindeer, and a miniature porcelain Christmas tree. Even better, it was a musical snow globe. The colours were obnoxiously bold, a strange contrast to the pale tones of the surrounding snow globes, the music was quite cheery, Gaara found, although not too loud. He sighed, picking it up and walking to the cashier.

It was quite beautiful, he could admit, and he hoped that it was perfect for Lee. Really, it was the only thing he had stopped to consider for more than a few seconds so he hoped it was the right thing to get Lee. Well... Lee did express some brief interest in snow globes so maybe he’d appreciate it. Now all Gaara had to do was find a place to hide it until Christmas.

* * *

Gaara felt a strange and foreign sense of foreboding, not unlike what he felt whenever Temari was in a bad mood. He approached the ringing phone with all the cautiousness of a hunter trying to trap a cornered animal. The redhead wracked his brain, trying to remember any forgotten significance this day held except for it being Christmas Eve. No, he hadn’t forgotten Kankuro’s birthday, nor Temari’s (a mistake he had only made once and had only survived from because of Shukaku). But other than his siblings, Lee and idiotic friends, Gaara didn’t really know or care about anyone so if it was some salesperson then tough shit, he wasn’t dealing with them. Speaking of friends... it could be one of Lee’s... Tenten or Neji or Gai. Tenten wouldn’t invoke this trepidation unless she was angry and he was pretty sure he hadn’t done anything to provoke her wrath. Neji wasn’t scary anymore, with Gaara being so accustomed to his glaring and it was Christmas Eve so he wouldn’t be calling anyone. That still left Gai as an option and... oh god, it was Gai. It had to be.

“Hello?” Gaara answered the phone.

“Gaara!” Gai’s voice came through the speaker, far too loud for Gaara’s liking.

“Sorry, but I’m either not in, missed you or am currently on my couch or in my bed wishing for death to take me. Please leave a message-” Gaara began, in a monotone voice.

“Gaara!” Gai repeated. “Wonderful to hear you again!”

However, Gaara continued speaking undeterred.

“-after the tone.”

“I know you’re there Gaara and I need to talk to you. So, I need a favour-”

“No.”

“You don’t even know what I’m asking you to do, though! I need a-”

“No.”

“Bu-”

“ _No._ ” Gaara stressed the word. He didn’t know what Gai wanted on Christmas Eve but it couldn’t be anything good. Lee was out for an hour or so which meant he couldn’t pass the phone to him.

“Listen. So you know how Lee believes in Santa Claus?”

Yes. Yes, Gaara did know. While his fiancée was a little too old to believe in Santa, he had refused to tell Lee the harsh truth. Wait.

“I am not going to tell Lee that Santa isn’t real. You’re his uncle so you can crush his dreams instead.”

“No, no, no, that’s not it. Quite the opposite, actually. You see, I’ve never wanted Lee to lose his youthful spirit, and hope and belief can keep that spirit alive! So every year, I dress up as Santa Claus and I-”

“You do what now? Wouldn’t he be able to tell who you are, at least when he grew older?” Lee was gullible but surely he wasn’t _that_ gullible.

“Oh, he can never tell it’s me! You see, I dress up as Santa Claus and I will walk around downstairs for a little bit until Lee comes down. Then I will allow him to see me before I climb up the chimney! He’s always so tired that he never notices it’s me!”

Climb up the chimney? Really? Gai’s antics were getting unbelievable at this point, honestly.

“Why are you telling me this? What’s the point?” The foreboding was coming back and a heavy weight settled in his gut.

“Because,” Gai began. “I’m unfortunately quite sick so I cannot make it tonight and so I thought that you could-”

Gaara listened in steadily growing horror as Gai explained his plan for Gaara to dress up as Santa and take Gai’s place this year. Well, there was an easy way of getting out of this mess.

“There is no way I can dress up as Santa or whatever since I don’t have the outfit. So, sorry, but this year’s going to have to be a Santa-free one for Lee.”

Silence and then, “I didn’t think about that. Oh well! I suppose you’re right, Gaara. Have a wonderful Christmas.”

“Uh... you too.”

A tone sounded to signal that Gai had hung up, so Gaara placed the phone down and shook his head, hearing the front door open and Lee greeting him jovially. Well then... at least he had gotten out of dressing up as Santa. Lee came around the corner then, smiling widely as he hugged Gaara tightly.

“Gaara! How has your day been?”

Gaara rolled his eyes, “You’ve only been gone for an hour or two.” He reminded his fiancée. “Not much could’ve happened in that time.” He wasn’t going to mention Gai, preferring to push the man to the back of his mind as he focused on Lee.

“Many things can happen in an hour or two!” Lee insisted.

“Well the house hasn’t burned down and nobody’s dead so it was pretty uneventful here.” Gaara shrugged, pausing before he spoke again. “What happened with you?”

It wasn’t looking too good for Gaara’s stone cold image with how he was more amused at Lee’s in-depth explanation ad wasn’t annoyed at the ranting like he knew he would be if it were anyone else. Honestly, he was going soft and it irritated him to no end that he didn’t even care.

* * *

Lee was many things. He was brave, reckless, enthusiastic, determined, ambitious. He was great at many things and terrible at others. One of those ‘others’ was fashion and Gaara could see that plainly as he watched Lee descend the stairs. Living together and sleeping in the same bed meant that Gaara would see in his pyjamas but he could say with confidence that Lee had never once worn a bright pink onesie to bed (if he had, Gaara would have just slept downstairs to avoid being affected by the atrocity). Lee looked tired, a rare sight to see considering how bright-eyed he was most of the time. The man walked over to him, collapsing next to Gaara who shielded his drink from Lee’s outstretched arms, grabbing onto him like he was a teddy bear. Nursing the mug in his hands, full of blessed, life-saving coffee, Gaara opted to ignore Lee’s clothing for now, knowing better than to question his fiancée’s choices.

“Are you going to be doing anything today?” Lee questioned, looking up at Gaara who shrugged.

“I don’t think so. Why?”

Lee perked up slightly, “Can we watch the Kung Fu Panda movies?” His voice was hopeful, as was the look on his face and Gaara bit back a sigh.

At this point, he could probably recite the entirety of the three Kung Fu Panda movies off by heart, although this didn’t affect Lee’s obsession with the trilogy in the slightest. He considered it, warming up to the notion of spending the day on the couch with Lee, not having to do anything and finally settling down without having to stress about the upcoming Christmas. However, it would come at the cost of binge watching Lee’s favourite movies and trying not to point out every little flaw in the comedic actions of Po and the loose plots that were maddeningly enjoyable when Gaara actually settled down to watch them without complaint.

“Fine,” he sighed. “But afterwards I want to watch some more of the Santa Clarita Diet.”

Lee beamed, “Of course!”

He leaped into action, running up the stairs to find the Kung Fu Panda movies. Gaara watched as he set up the movies, shifting further to the left of the couch so Lee could comfortably sit down next to him. A soft smile appeared faintly when Lee resumed his former position, using Gaara as a human sized teddy bear once more. For the next four and a half hours, Lee laughed and pointed out details Gaara already noticed while Gaara himself stayed quiet so as to not ruin Lee’s mood by explaining how ludicrous everything shown on screen was.

It was a pleasant way to spend the morning, domestic and quiet for the most part. With Lee being, well, _Lee_ , peace and quiet weren’t exactly a daily occurrence and as much as Gaara wished he could relax instead of going to work or whatever, he couldn’t, so this was a lovely change. When the third movie ended, Lee stood up, leaning down to take Gaara’s hand and practically dragged him to the kitchen where they prepared a simple lunch.

“That was wonderful!” Lee exclaimed. “Thank you, Gaara, for watching all three movies with me. I am aware it can be rather tiring for you.”

Gaara just shrugged, making some hot chocolate for the two of them. “Whatever. It’s not a big deal, you know.”

Lee just smiled at him, deciding not to answer. When the hot chocolate had been made, he went back to the living room, waiting for Lee so that they could watch the Santa Clarita Diet. When Lee eventually emerged, he settled down next to Gaara, drawing the red haired male to him. Gaara enjoyed the warmth, just appreciating the moment he and Lee were having. And, okay, maybe it was a weird time for him to say it but he just murmured the words quietly enough that Lee only barely caught them.

“I love you, Lee.”

Lee nearly blinded him with his grin, “I love you too, Gaara.”


End file.
